Final: Clark 49, Mission Sharyland 21

Following a meaningless late touchdown from Sharyland, this one’s final: Clark 49, Mission Sharyland 21. Clark moves on to the fourth round, where it will face the winner of tomorrow’s game between Austin Westlake and Harlingen.

-Chad Peters

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Clark just punted with 4:00 left to play. The significance? That was the Cougars’ first punt since punting the ball on their opening possession of the game.

-Chad Peters

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The second of Clark’s two Durkes is now in at quarterback, with sophomore Daniel Durke taking over for Blair Ohman to start the fourth quarter.

-Chad Peters

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The third quarter mercifully comes to a close for Sharyland, with Clark still leading 49-14.

-Chad Peters

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Mission Sharyland fans might go home telling stories about the great Ryan Jones like they probably will Jock Tilghman. On his second carry of the game, Jones went outside and broke away from two defenders for a 53-yard score. It pushed Clark’s lead back to 49-14.

-Chad Peters

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It appears the afternoon is over for Clark’s starters. Blair Ohman is back in at quarterback to replace Aaron Durke, while Ryan Jones has relieved Jock Tilghman. Tilghman leaves with 21 carries for 229 yards and a touchdown.

-Chad Peters

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Clark’s 42-point “run” is over, as Mission Sharyland found the end zone again on a 5-yard run from Scott Meyer to make the score 42-14. The TD run capped off a 16-play, time-consuming drive. There is 2:07 left in the third quarter.

-Chad Peters

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It appears that Clark’s Jock Tilghman is now just pulling out moves from my “Madden” repitoire. Tilghman took an option pitch outside and hurdled — yes, hurdled — a defender to get the needed yardage as he was driven in the air out of bounds. One play later, Durke connected with tight end Adair Campbell for a 17-yard strike to lead 42-7 with 8:41 left in the third quarter.

-Chad Peters

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A few first-half nuggets…

*Jock Tilghman has 18 carries for 195 yards and a touchdown.

*Mission Sharyland packed a punch early, but simply could not capitalize on going ahead 7-0 early in the first quarter. Spurred by three turnovers — including a fumble recovery from Aaron Durke with the game tied 7-7 — Clark was able to respond with 35 unanswered points. Early, the Rattlers were able to churn out rushing yards with a variety of misdirection plays, and quarterback Mike Moroles complemented the ground game with several pinpoint passes. But the dynamic, versatile offense Sharyland had early has since gone into hiding.

*Again, Clark has done all this without Hayden Greenbauer, whose status is not known yet. We’ll get you an update on him after the game. Aaron Durke has filled in admirably with two touchdown runs and a TD pass to Jerrad White.

-Chad Peters

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To update Hayden Greenbauer’s status, Aaron Durke actually got injured on that last touchdown drive and had to leave for a play. But it wasn’t Greenbauer that replaced him. Instead, third-stringer Blair Ohman came in. And if his 30-yard strike to to Jock Tilghman on his first play of the game wasn’t a sign of how things are going for the Cougars, then nothing is. That was all the Cougars needed from Ohman, though, as Durke returned on the very next play.

Not to play doctor from the press box, but precuationary or not, he might be being held out because of injury. He appears to have a little bit of a limp as he paces the sidelines. Also, as all the players ran onto the field before the game, Greenbauer trailed them, walking toward the Cougars’ sideline while holding a cheerleader’s hand.

But again, this game just underscores how good and deep the Cougars are. They’ve played without one of their undisputed leaders — a player who came produced four touchdowns and had two interceptions in part-time defensive duty a week ago — and have still managed to hang 35 boards on the scoreboard in just one half.

-Chad Peters

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Clark continues to punish Sharyland, driving 80 yards for another touchdown just before halftime to lead 35-7 at the half.

The drive, capped off by a 1-yard score from Aaron Durke, was kick-started by Joseph Nichols’ interception in the end zone in one-on-one coverage on a jump ball thrown with about 2:00 left in the half.

Sharyland actually came up with a goal-line stop against Clark, forcing Durke to fumble at the 1-yard line. But a too-many-men-on-the-field penalty against the Rattlers nullified the play, and Durke scored on the very next play.

-Chad Peters

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You never want to declare a game over too early, but you get the feeling Clark’s 90-yard drive it just engineered to go up 28-7 might have taken out any of the air that was left in Sharyland. Tilghman’s 42-yard run set up Aaron Durke’s 30-yard touchdown pass to Jerrad White with 2:40 left in the half. On the play, Durke did play-action and rolled right, and found White wide — very wide — open running straight down the middle of the field.

-Chad Peters

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Jock Tilghman was already having a nice day, but nothing like the 34-yard touchdown run he just produced to give Clark a 21-7 lead with 8:29 left in the second period. Tilghman burst through the middle of the line, did a stutter-step to freeze the safety at about the 20-yard line, and then spun before racing the rest of the way untouched. Tilghman currently has 131 yards on 12 carries.

-Chad Peters

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Also to note, Clark quarterback Hayden Greenbauer has yet to make an appearance today. He’s dressed and on the sideline, but it’s been talented backup Aaron Durke leading the each drive to this point.

-Chad Peters

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To add, on Clark’s two touchdown drives it was able to unleash Jock Tilghman’s speed against Sharyland’s defense. Tilghman was taking pitches outside and running up the middle before bouncing outside — essentially just running circles around Sharyland’s defense.

-Chad Peters

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And just like that, Clark leads 14-7. The Cougars sandwiched a pair of touchdowns in five plays thanks to a fumble recovery from Aaron Durke. Jerrad White scored the go-ahead TD on a 7-yard run with :50 left in the first pereiod.

Perviously, Clark answered Mission Sharyland’s scoring drive with a much-needed, decisive touchdown drive that went 63 yards in just five plays. Jock Tilghman ripped off 62 of the yards in four carries, with rushes of 9, 35, 13 and 5 yards before QB Aaron Durke finished it off with a 1-yard score on a sneak.

-Chad Peters

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Mission Sharyland takes a 7-0 lead off a 9-yard touchdown run from quarterback Mike Moroles. The drive went 60 yards in six plays, highlighted by a 35-yard strike on a deep post route from Moroles to wideout Chris Zuniga. Mission Sharyland 7, Clark 0 with 4:41 left in the first quarter.

-Chad Peters

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A defensive offside penalty against Clark might have just bailed out the Cougars on 4th-and-10. Mission Sharyland had a fake set up, and appared to have an easy TD lined up before the whistles blew the play dead. Instead, Clark gets the ball inside its own 10-yard following a beautiful 49-yard punt from Sharyland.

Sharyland, by the way, showed some speed and misdirection ability on its first offensive possession before punting. The Rattlers moved the ball from its own 5-yard line out to near its 40 thanks to an array of run plays out of the spread formation.

-Chad Peters

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Clark gets an early defensive stop, but not after Mission Sharyland marched about 35 yards

Hooray! Rosters have appeared. So scratch those numbers-only concerns.

-Chad Peters

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Clark was a little late taking the field, but when the Cougars did so, they certainly did in style. A boy that appeared to be a student wearing a gray T-shirt came out waving a white towel to pump up the fans.

-Chad Peters

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Hey folks, Chad Peters here at the Alamodome several minutes before kickoff of Clark’s third-round clash against Mission Sharyland.

You might have to bear with us a bit early today, as there are not yet any Mission Sharyland rosters available in the press box. We obviously know Clark’s players, but we might have to resort to labeling the Rattlers by number only — at least early on.

If you’ve got any questions, please shoot them way via the comments section.

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Clark plays Mission Sharyland on Friday at 4 p.m. at the Alamodome in the Class 5A Division I playoffs.